Boutique hotel Spicers Potts Point is set in a trio of townhouses originally built in 1880 and brilliantly transformed into a 20-room stay. Victorian features are mixed in with modern design, including seaglass-coloured furnishings and modern oil-paintings by Australian artist Martine Emdur. There’s a hidden courtyard garden, a light-filled breakfast room and a well-stocked honesty bar for thirsty guests. Just beyond the leafy street the hotel’s set on, the cafés, restaurants and boutiques of village-within-a-city Potts Point are all just a short stroll away.

Smith Extra

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A welcome bottle of wine and a handmade clove- and cinnamon-scented candle

At the hotel

Our favourite rooms

Spring for a room with a terrace and you’ll get a private perch – complete with alfresco lounge seating – looking out onto Victoria Street. We recommend starting your days there with a fresh cup of coffee.

Packing tips

Bring your appetite and your factor-50 sun-tan lotion.

Also

The hotel’s common areas are wheelchair accessible, there’s a lift to the guest bar, lounge and breakfast area, and two of the King rooms are fully accessible.

Children

All ages are welcome, but this historic house is best suited to older teens; an extra bed can be added to some rooms for AU$70 a night.

Food and Drink

Top Table

Grab a two-seater by the wall, or stake out a table with an eye-line to the buffet; there’s not one bad table in this bright breakfast space.

Dress Code

L’Aussie faire.

Hotel restaurant

Make your way to the bright and airy Garden Room – with its hanging vine plants, seaglass-coloured chairs, and oil paintings of bodies underwater by Australian artist Martine Emdur – for leisurely breakfasts. A Continental buffet of fruits, pastries, home-made muesli, prosciutto, smoked salmon, and juices is laid out in the adjoining room, and made-to-order à la carte items, including eggs many ways, buttermilk pancakes, and vanilla porridge with fresh berries, are on offer, too. Make your post-breakfast plans for the day over a second mug of flat white, chai latte, hot chocolate or tea.

Hotel bar

The impressively stocked honesty bar is next to the Garden Room; you can pull up a bar chair there, but we’d recommend heading to your terrace (if you have one) after you’ve concocted your cocktails.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 6.30am to 10.30am during the week, and from 7am to a very respectable 11am on the weekends.

Room service

Just ask and delivery can be arranged with a number of local restaurants; hotel staff will pick up your order, plate it, and bring it to your door. Each room also has a fully stocked minibar; so you’ll be safe if midnight hunger hits.

Location

Address

Spicers Potts Point is in on-trend neighbourhood Woolloomooloo, which is full of restaurants, bars, and boutiques.

Planes

Sydney Airport is 25 minutes away by car; arrange transfers for up to four people from AU$75 each way in a luxury sedan. Call our Smith24 Team and they’ll arrange your flights too.

Trains

Trains from across New South Wales pull into Kings Cross Station, a five-minute walk away.

Automobiles

Parking is AU$40 a night, and must be pre-booked; you won’t need a car in the city, but it’ll come in handy if you fancy exploring outside of Sydney.

Worth getting out of bed for

Make yourself at home with a concoction from the extensive honesty bar and a flick through the library’s coffee-table books. Hotel guests have free use of nearby PE Dept gym, which has a fully-equipped weights and training room, and Pilates, barre, TRX and yoga classes. For a more leisurely outing, stroll around Potts Point and wander into the boutiques, or make your way to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Local restaurants

There’s no shortage of hip eateries in buzzy Potts Point. For dinner with a view, book a table on the terrace at The Butler and tuck into Ibero-American sharing plates, including sourdough with black-bean hummus, tuna tartare with tomatillos, and charred octopus with squid-ink mole poblano. At Asian-inspired Ms. G’s, start with mini, spicy, fish-katsu bánh mì before feasting on kaffir-lime-laced tom yum and fried rice with snow crab. And save room for the decadent desserts; there’s the Stoner’s Delight – doughnut ice-cream with peanut and pretzel brittle, dulce de leche, crispy bacon, Mars Bar brownie, raspberry curd, potato chips and deep-fried Nutella – or the more genteel green-tea meringue with whipped yuzu curd and jackfruit sorbet. For a taste of Tokyo, go for one of the tasting menus at Cho Cho San; both start with a sake flight and end with either green-tea soft serve or matcha tiramisu and mochi.

Local cafés

For smooth coffees, second breakfast and sandwiches, hit up Gypsy Espresso; this café is set off a side street near Cho Cho San. Order a sweet and creamy coconut sago with black sesame or a bacon and poached egg panini to go with your creamy flat white. If it’s country-style brunches you’re after, walk towards Kings Cross Station to The Silly Tart Kitchen; during the week they dish out classic, eggy and oaty breakfast fare, but we love their decadent weekend dishes, including the maple-bacon-cake-dough waffles with candied nuts and vanilla-rum ice-cream. To drink, there’s locally roasted Skittle Lane coffee, organic teas, freshly pressed juices and an assortment of adult beverages, and if you’re there for a quick afternoon pick-me-up, order a side of cinnamon-sugar-dusted Chinese doughnuts.

Reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this boutique hotel in New South Wales and unpacked their gallery finds and bags of artisan-roasted coffee, a full account of their Australian city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Spicers Potts Point in Sydney…

Mornings at boutique hotel Spicers Potts Point are especially dreamy; start with a stretch in your bed, then head to the light-filled Garden Room, wandering past textured, jewel-toned seascape paintings, for a leisurely breakfast aromatic coffee and chai, or even hot chocolate. After fortifying yourself for the day, step out to explore the leafy village-like neighbourhood of Woolloomooloo – it’s both conveniently close to the harbour and CBD, and a relaxed world away from the city’s hustle. As you head north to groomed Potts Point, or south to super-cool Darlinghurst, glance back to admire the terraced Victorian façade of your home-for-a-bit in New South Wales.